LAS CRUCES — New Mexico State's last two men's basketball coaches will be coaching against each other in the Mountain West Conference next year. Still, NMSU Athletics Director Mario Moccia said Wednesday that the Aggies' job is not a stepping stone.

"I'm not accepting that this is a springboard," Moccia said. "Even when coaches do tremendous things at other places, they end up at national powers. Virtually no place is poachless."

Losing Marvin Menzies to UNLV and Paul Weir to New Mexico in the past two seasons for higher-paying jobs in a better conference proves the Aggies can attract promising coaches. But, losing his head coach after just one season this year puts Moccia back on the coaching hunt at an inopportune time in the recruiting and off-season calendar.

Moccia said UNM personnel notified him of their potential interest in hiring Weir on April 7. Three days later, Weir was gone. And now, NMSU faces the reputation of not being able to retain talented coaches.

"We are where we are with our finances," Moccia said. "When we have coaches that do tremendous things, they are going to have opportunities to go to an institution that can pay tremendous amounts of money. I would never bemoan a coach to turn down money that takes care of his family. That is the nature of the business. It's a little awkward that it's to our other state school."

Salary certainly played a factor in Weir's departure. He made $250,000 last year, and will make $625,000 at UNM next year. He would make a total of $3.6 million if he coaches through his six-year deal. Weir said at his introductory press conference in Albuquerque that money wasn't the issue. But outside of a last-ditch effort to retain Weir, it's unclear if NMSU leadership values athletics enough to keep talented coaches on campus.

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Former New Mexico State head coach Paul Weir is introduced as New Mexico's head coach on Tuesday in Albuquerque. Video courtesy of KOB-TV.

End of Weir's run

NMSU Chancellor Garrey Carruthers insists the university tried to entice Weir to remain in Las Cruces by adding performance incentives to his contract, but he said the process moved too quickly once UNM expressed interest. The proposed incentives amounted to an additional $20,000 to $30,000 next season. Menzies was making a $290,000 base salary in his final season in 2015-16.

Weir interviewed with UNM officials in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday, April 8, and tentatively agreed to the framework of a deal on Monday after driving from Las Cruces to meet with UNM officials in Socorro.

At Moccia's request, Weir submitted a list of proposed program improvements via text message that Moccia annotated and forwarded to Carruthers late Monday night.

None of those suggestions included an increase to his base salary. Weir confirmed the accuracy of the list Carruthers described, but said it was submitted as a group of talking points to illustrate the challenges facing Moccia and the athletic department moving forward rather than demands that must be met to remain in Las Cruces.

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Paul Weir(Photo: Anayssa Vasquez/Sun-News)

Included in Weir's list was:

The elimination of a $4.3 million athletic department debt to the university.

Access to the Pan American Center lockerrooms and practice facility at all times, an issue that surfaced last weekend during the Garth Brooks concert series at the Pan American Center, which was also the final recruiting period before the current signing period opened on Wednesday. Aggies recruits, coaches and staff were not permitted access to the facility throughout the weekend.

A funding plan for Pan American Center renovations within the next four years.

Keeping dorms open during breaks.

A strength coach who would be shared between the men's and women's basketball programs.

Free use of the Pan American Center for summer camps.

Initial and final say in athletic department contracts.

And, to initiate a process of athletic department special admissions regardless of grade point average or test scores.

Carruthers reached out to Weir for the first time in person early Tuesday morning.

"I called Coach Weir and said I wanted him to stay, but I would need a little time. But he said he had already tentatively agreed with UNM," Carruthers said. "I asked if he could give me until 9 a.m. (on Tuesday) and we could see how many of these suggestions would be feasible."

Carruthers said Weir was receptive, but ultimately called back just before 7 a.m. Tuesday to inform him he would take the UNM job. News broke on Twitter shortly after.

Weir declined to comment further. But, some followers of NMSU athletics said they believe an indifferent approach to athletics by Carruthers and the Board of Regents will continue to cost NMSU quality coaches in the future.

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New Mexico State mens basketball coach Paul Weir, talks with Danielle Gibbs, who spotted herself and her family in the large photo on the wall of the offices of the basketball staff, Tuesday during the Aggies Basketball Womens Clinic at NMSU.
New Mexico State men's basketball coach Paul Weir, talks with Danielle Gibbs, who spotted herself and her family in the large photo on the wall of the offices of the basketball staff, Tuesday during the Aggies Basketball Women's Clinic at NMSU. Josh Bachman/Sun-News, Josh Bachman/Sun-News

NMSU Men's Basketball Head Coach Paul Weir, left, runs showing his players how to run the next practice drill on Tuesday, October 4, 2016, during the first day of practice for the season. Anayssa Vasquez/Sun-News

Aggies men's basketball head coach Paul Weir shouts encouragement to his team as New Mexico State came from behind to beat CSU Bakersfield Saturday night at the Pan American Center 1/14/17
Gary Mook/for the Sun-News Gary Mook

"It does not appear that the regents are engaged in this at all," former Regents Chairman Bob Gallagher said. "That is what concerns me. They need to understand that athletics is the front-porch theory. If you know Paul Weir, he is not about money, but he wants to be at a place where he feels that there is support."

Gallagher said that within two days of former coach Reggie Theus' departure to the NBA in 2007, Menzies was on campus to meet with former Athletics Director McKinley Boston.

"There was a Plan A and Plan B between the board, (Boston) and the president (Mike Martin)," Gallagher said. "The worst thing you can do is make your athletic director reactive.

"I just think the Board of Regents and (Carruthers) or a new president has to prove to the next men's basketball coach, just like to (football coach) Doug Martin, (volleyball coach) Mike Jordan or (women's basketball coach) Mark Trakh, that their programs are important," Gallagher said. "Three coaches in three years is a disaster. You can't talk a good game. You have to back it up."

Debt payment

Moccia said Wednesday that the athletics department continues to make debt payments to the university stemming from New Mexico State's transition to the Western Athletic Conference in 2005, when Gallagher was on the board.

"Former Chairman Gallagher was very critical of the administration, but it was Chairman Gallagher and that administration that ran up a $10 million debt," Carruthers said. "We are obligated to pay that back to the university through the athletic program, which causes us not to be able to have any money to counter anybody."

The challenge for NMSU has been compounded by the state's ongoing budget crisis, which has hit higher education particularly hard in the past three years. NMSU has already cut approximately $21 million from the proposed recurring budget and at least $10 million from the non-recurring budget, Carruthers said. All higher education funding for the upcoming fiscal year was recently vetoed by Gov. Susana Martinez, with the expectation that it will be restored in a special session.

Moccia said NMSU athletics is mandated to balance its budget while continuing to pay off the remaining debt of approximately $4.3 million. Athletics paid $1.35 million toward the debt in fiscal year 2017 and is scheduled to pay the remaining balance by 2021.

"We could bemoan what others have or what others are able to do financially; to me that is a tremendous waste of energy," Moccia said. "What athletics can control is trying to find the best coach to fit in our financial means."

Little brother to UNM

UNM owes former basketball coach Craig Neal a $1 million buyout, which will be made over the next two years. According to an Albuquerque Journal report, UNM athletics posted a $1.54 million deficit in the last fiscal year, which increased its total debt to $4.3 million, equaling NMSU's current debt to the main campus. UNM's main campus has essentially picked up the tab in the past, although the Lobos announced Thursday the discontinuation of the men's and women's ski programs, a $600,000 saving.

Carruthers said that it was not an option for the main campus at NMSU to cover the athletic department's debt.

"One of our biggest problems is trying to repay that deficit," he said. "If you ask the question, can the university afford to write it off? Probably. But we have an agreement with the Education Department that we will actually pay it back."

Carruthers said Menzies' base salary before leaving was not the ceiling for a men's basketball coach, but Moccia indicated it was close. Moccia said Wednesday that he was operating with the same contract framework as when Weir was hired a year ago.

While Moccia didn't mention UNM specifically, losing the head coach of the school's most successful revenue sport was certainly a wake-up call. And, as is clear from Weir's wish list, not all improvements cost money.

"Athletics is not the most important thing, but it is the most visible," Moccia said. "We know that a magic wand isn't possible to make finances appear out of thin air, but we want control over things that impact the success of not just the men's basketball program, but all intercollegiate athletics. There are a lot of those things where I think me and my staff could say, that this is what we would really like to have in order to maximize our success."

Sports Editor Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.